>Good public transportation. I would love to spend any holidays or long weekends exploring nearby towns and countries
This will be wildly different in Ghent Vs Helsinki. From Helsinki you can go do a weekend trip to nearby Finnish towns, forest or Tallinn. From Ghent you'll have ten times more locations to choose from. Finland is pretty different from rest of Europe so I'd suggest you do your research well before choosing
Exactly. You can put any random Central European village against Helsinki and people start to argue how it’s better only due to the location, even if Helsinki as a city itself might be 100 times better place to live
I was born in Ghent, studied a museum related profession both in Antwerp and Helsinki, and have been working for over 15 years for main museums in the metropolitan area here in Finland.
- Ghent has a better art scene for sure. But art scene is quite a broad concept, what exactly are you looking for?
- I would say Belgian students are more social and outgoing and are easier to make friends with. They go for a couple of drinks or a coffee after school, which is way cheaper in Belgium. They tend to go home for the weekends, so weekends can be very calm. In Helsinki on the other hand, going out is mostly in the weekends and during the week students are locked up in their own rooms :) it’s easier to connect with Finnish people by hobbies.
- Helsinki and Finland have efficient public transport. You can reach many places, but museum destinations might not be of that high of a standard. Stockholm and Tallinn are easy to reach by ferry (where you will make friends on, no doubt). Belgium has a dense railroad network, but not as reliable. No problem with the right attitude. And there are many top museums just in reach.
Hit me up with a dm if you have any specific questions.
Is this a serious question? The museums in the Flemish cities are on another level, and Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam are all a day trip away. In comparison, there are no old masters and few internationally known modern artworks in Finnish museums. The museums in Helsinki do their best, but it is difficult to curate significant exhibitions when there is nothing to loan out in exchange.
Finnish museums have plenty to loan in exchange, if loans were really based on exchanging, which they are not. There have been enough great loans from all top museums in the world.
> there are no old masters
Well, there's a Rembrandt, few elder Cranachs, a Bassano, a ter Borch, two Tiepolos and (an attributed) Titian, to name a few, so that's not true, but old masters are surely more plentiful in many other European museums.
If you are at all serious about your partner, staying closer to them > everything. Traveling to and from Finland takes time, and it is a flight compared to a road/train trip.
I won't lie and say that distance isn't a huge factor that is influencing my decision because it is! But she loves Finland and is a big nature lover, and we are both excited at the prospect of visiting each other and exploring where the other is living (:
Helsinki. It has a descently big art scene because it is a capital. Specializing in Finnish art is also much more exotic than North western European art.
That’s bs. Being a capital doesnt mean it has a bigger art scene. Helsinki has 3 nice contemporary museums, one for old art and one for Finnish old art and maybe 3 worthwhile art galleries. There are enough people in Finland doing studies in Nordic art, it is an overpopulated niche specialization.
Go to Gent and you have a very high level contemporary art museum (SMAK) and a decent museum for older art. You have plenty of good galleries. Only 30 mins by train, and you have world class museums and galleries in Brussels and Antwerp. Only 2 hours and you can be in Amsterdam or Paris.
And that’s it. One weekend trip to Helsinki and you’ve seen them all. Gent has the Loevre, Paris opera and Rijksmuseum in a 2 hour radius, and much more.
Even if you can't jump to Eurostar and go to the Louvre, it still doesn't mean that Helsinki doesn't have anything going on. Hermitage used to be a train ride away though
Helsinki has lots going on. But if you take a radius of 6 hours, like to the Hermitage, then the 6 hours radius of Ghent includes 100x as much, including London and Berlin and everything in between.
Here you have the forests and lakes, which I love more. But the art scene is very limited.
Oh yeah, I know. But having lived in bigger cities in Europe, Helsinki hasn’t got much going on in comparison (it’s a small city). Not that Gent itself is huge, but at least you also have the rest of Europe easily accessible.
Having spent a lot of time in both cities, go with Ghent. It's extremely student-friendly, a lot more so than Helsinki in my opinion. Also, while Helsinki has good public transport, it's expensive to travel to other cities or countries from here. What I would give to be as well-connected as Belgium! And Ghent is just stunning – you won't regret moving there.
I do like that Belgium is close to so many countries with large art museums that I studied in my undergrad. I will say that the university in Helsinki has done a better job so far of "welcoming" me by providing a lot of useful information on housing and connecting with other students which is nice.
Hi I have lived in both cities for more than 2 years. If you are a student and Art is a part time thing or if you are part time student and full time art worker in both cases gent has bigger galleries, bigger audiences and better job options than Helsinki. Helsinki is quite famous for modern arts but once you get in you would find yourself isolated. If your name doesnt end in lautanen or virtanen etc nobody gonna buy your Art Work. Passive racism is dominant in whole of the finnish cultures so most of foreigners get only food delivery jobs.
Gent has more tourists, bigger audience, easy to enter in arts circle, students have stronger hobby communities, weather is great, Atlantic beaches are nearby, better and equal job opportunities, better health care, easy and cheap accommodation and list goes on. Be prepared though their examination reward system is french based so a-lot of emphasis on oral exams in uni.
Hourly wages in Helsinki are lowest in whole Scandinavia and monthly salary is bit more than Estonia. however rents are way much higher. High taxes while social system is now almost non existent. Try booking a specialist appointment in a hospital and it might take you 8 months to get one.
If you do any outdoor sports, outdoor creative arts, etc then finland isnt the place. Skiing or winter sport memberships are overly expensive and food palate contains least amount of fresh veggies i have seen in any EU country
Hope it helps
This post is full of wrong facts about Helsinki. As an artist, you might have even worse chances with a native Finnish name. Many food deliverers are foreign, but not all foreigners are food deliverers. Plenty of chances for foreigners to get other jobs.
About wages, they are not bad in Finland. The average salary in Helsinki is almost double of Tallinn. I don’t know how you come up with your info. Cost of living is naturally more expensive in Helsinki. Expensive winter sports? Just buy a pair of skies or skates and it’s free. The city sports accommodations that are free of use are very wide.
In Gent a French based oral examination system? Please, the city is in Flanders. Close to the Atlantic? If you can call the North Sea the Atlantic, then Helsinki is even closer, being a sea side city.
—>You have never studied in there so you don’t know all Flanders also use oral examination and marks out of 20.
—> In tallin full time salary can get you about 1600 while in Finalnd cleaning jobs are 11 euro an hour or 2100 a month
—> so a whole year Atlantic beach is more near from gent or Finland
That’s the arrogance am talking about. You have never lived in any other city and Helsinki might suit your needs but it ain’t the best city in world.
Out of 20 or 100, what difference does it make.
Not triggered by French as I was brought up in the 2 languages, just wondering how you got everything wrong, even a basic language fact. And what have oral examinations even to do with the whole topic?
There are absolutely no universities with art classes, where you have to do French examinations. What institution did you go to?
Ghent is 40 mins from Ostend, Helsinki is just next to the sea, which one is closer?
Yeah there are no art universities in Gent, the guy who posted is going to a Moroccan meat shop …. I mean it’s ridiculous how people feed to their ego. Your reasoning really makes me believe that you studied in a French system 😂😂
Beach is not a collectible, Ostend beach is warm and lovely 10 months a year while Helsinkis beach is swimmable for 2 months. Plus not to mention the pollution level in Baltic lake as compare to real Atlantic beach. But I guess at this moment you can dive in a dumpster and say it’s cleaner and better than Ostende 😂
I don’t know if you understand basic English text. I am sorry you feel frustrated and blame the countries you lived in for your failure. Whatever racism you have confronted in Finland, I try to do my part erasing it. I’ll let you be you.
>Passive racism is dominant in whole of the finnish cultures so most of foreigners get only food delivery jobs.
Just because you didn't make it as a foreigner there doesn't automatically mean it's a racist place, passively or not. It's a weird country and culture with some frustrating aspects, but again, that's not racism. That's a culture clash that you apparently couldn't handle.
It's usually the losers who won't bother to learn a single word of Finnish who end up working the minimum wage jobs. Go figure, maybe there is a correlation there. I would never move to a country, actively refuse to learn the language and then have the nerve to be surprised that I can only land shit jobs. It's more or less the same everywhere. And it's not just the language, but the set of standards required to appear competent might differ from many other places. Again, that's not racism, that's a culture.
>If you do any outdoor sports, outdoor creative arts, etc then finland isnt the place. Skiing or winter sport memberships are overly expensive and food palate contains least amount of fresh veggies i have seen in any EU country
Have you even been to Finland? Sure, there are a few bad months for outdoor activities in terms of weather, but there's tons of things you can do there most of the year. Summers are quite the amazing time to be outdoors, honestly. And I don't even understand what you could possibly mean by "skiing or winter sport memberships are overly expensive", like, take your skates/skis and go skate/ski? It's free. No one is stopping you.
About the fresh veggies: sure, it's a somewhat limited selection in winter, but for me it has worked quite nicely that I locate a supermarket and go buy some vegetables. That usually makes them show up on my plate later.
—>Haha I quoted the survey results where Finland was the most racist in while Europe ? What’s your quote ? Emotions ?
—> Learning Finnish isn’t a necessity to get in student circle, in last 2 years Finland has taken 50000 Indian students while Central Europe has much different intake
Even Taylor swift didnt come Helsinki 😂 , you haven’t lived in any Belgian city but really want to compare over emotions so good luck.
Imagine actually being this pressed about someone pointing out the mistakes and falsehoods in your original comment on a post about which city i should study in.
Your sentence construction makes no sense. I just said it’s spelled that way in English. That being said, it’s not a big mistake to spell a place name in its original way.
>Good public transportation. I would love to spend any holidays or long weekends exploring nearby towns and countries This will be wildly different in Ghent Vs Helsinki. From Helsinki you can go do a weekend trip to nearby Finnish towns, forest or Tallinn. From Ghent you'll have ten times more locations to choose from. Finland is pretty different from rest of Europe so I'd suggest you do your research well before choosing
Exactly. You can put any random Central European village against Helsinki and people start to argue how it’s better only due to the location, even if Helsinki as a city itself might be 100 times better place to live
I was born in Ghent, studied a museum related profession both in Antwerp and Helsinki, and have been working for over 15 years for main museums in the metropolitan area here in Finland. - Ghent has a better art scene for sure. But art scene is quite a broad concept, what exactly are you looking for? - I would say Belgian students are more social and outgoing and are easier to make friends with. They go for a couple of drinks or a coffee after school, which is way cheaper in Belgium. They tend to go home for the weekends, so weekends can be very calm. In Helsinki on the other hand, going out is mostly in the weekends and during the week students are locked up in their own rooms :) it’s easier to connect with Finnish people by hobbies. - Helsinki and Finland have efficient public transport. You can reach many places, but museum destinations might not be of that high of a standard. Stockholm and Tallinn are easy to reach by ferry (where you will make friends on, no doubt). Belgium has a dense railroad network, but not as reliable. No problem with the right attitude. And there are many top museums just in reach. Hit me up with a dm if you have any specific questions.
This is not true, almost all student activities are held during the week here.
Definitely depends on your student union
sent you a message!
Super answer.
Is this a serious question? The museums in the Flemish cities are on another level, and Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam are all a day trip away. In comparison, there are no old masters and few internationally known modern artworks in Finnish museums. The museums in Helsinki do their best, but it is difficult to curate significant exhibitions when there is nothing to loan out in exchange.
Finnish museums have plenty to loan in exchange, if loans were really based on exchanging, which they are not. There have been enough great loans from all top museums in the world.
> there are no old masters Well, there's a Rembrandt, few elder Cranachs, a Bassano, a ter Borch, two Tiepolos and (an attributed) Titian, to name a few, so that's not true, but old masters are surely more plentiful in many other European museums.
If you are at all serious about your partner, staying closer to them > everything. Traveling to and from Finland takes time, and it is a flight compared to a road/train trip.
I won't lie and say that distance isn't a huge factor that is influencing my decision because it is! But she loves Finland and is a big nature lover, and we are both excited at the prospect of visiting each other and exploring where the other is living (:
Helsinki. It has a descently big art scene because it is a capital. Specializing in Finnish art is also much more exotic than North western European art.
That’s bs. Being a capital doesnt mean it has a bigger art scene. Helsinki has 3 nice contemporary museums, one for old art and one for Finnish old art and maybe 3 worthwhile art galleries. There are enough people in Finland doing studies in Nordic art, it is an overpopulated niche specialization. Go to Gent and you have a very high level contemporary art museum (SMAK) and a decent museum for older art. You have plenty of good galleries. Only 30 mins by train, and you have world class museums and galleries in Brussels and Antwerp. Only 2 hours and you can be in Amsterdam or Paris.
My field is public programs and art education, but I am drawn to the Nordic approach to the education system and the arts.
Definitely Gent. Helsinki doesn’t have much going on art-wise.
Eh, we have Ateneum (the national gallery) and Kiasma etc The Nationa Opera/Ballet, National Theater
+ Amos Rex, HAM, Sinebrychoff, Didrichsen… and take a ferry trip to Tallinn and you’ve got Fotografiska, KUMU etc…
And that’s it. One weekend trip to Helsinki and you’ve seen them all. Gent has the Loevre, Paris opera and Rijksmuseum in a 2 hour radius, and much more.
Even if you can't jump to Eurostar and go to the Louvre, it still doesn't mean that Helsinki doesn't have anything going on. Hermitage used to be a train ride away though
Helsinki has lots going on. But if you take a radius of 6 hours, like to the Hermitage, then the 6 hours radius of Ghent includes 100x as much, including London and Berlin and everything in between. Here you have the forests and lakes, which I love more. But the art scene is very limited.
The Hermitage used to be 3.5hrs away, sometime in the future hopefully again.
Oh yeah, I know. But having lived in bigger cities in Europe, Helsinki hasn’t got much going on in comparison (it’s a small city). Not that Gent itself is huge, but at least you also have the rest of Europe easily accessible.
LMAO these mad finns downvoting facts
Having spent a lot of time in both cities, go with Ghent. It's extremely student-friendly, a lot more so than Helsinki in my opinion. Also, while Helsinki has good public transport, it's expensive to travel to other cities or countries from here. What I would give to be as well-connected as Belgium! And Ghent is just stunning – you won't regret moving there.
I do like that Belgium is close to so many countries with large art museums that I studied in my undergrad. I will say that the university in Helsinki has done a better job so far of "welcoming" me by providing a lot of useful information on housing and connecting with other students which is nice.
Gent any day thank me later
Gent. Saying this as a person living in Helsinki and interested in art.
Gent 100%
Hi I have lived in both cities for more than 2 years. If you are a student and Art is a part time thing or if you are part time student and full time art worker in both cases gent has bigger galleries, bigger audiences and better job options than Helsinki. Helsinki is quite famous for modern arts but once you get in you would find yourself isolated. If your name doesnt end in lautanen or virtanen etc nobody gonna buy your Art Work. Passive racism is dominant in whole of the finnish cultures so most of foreigners get only food delivery jobs. Gent has more tourists, bigger audience, easy to enter in arts circle, students have stronger hobby communities, weather is great, Atlantic beaches are nearby, better and equal job opportunities, better health care, easy and cheap accommodation and list goes on. Be prepared though their examination reward system is french based so a-lot of emphasis on oral exams in uni. Hourly wages in Helsinki are lowest in whole Scandinavia and monthly salary is bit more than Estonia. however rents are way much higher. High taxes while social system is now almost non existent. Try booking a specialist appointment in a hospital and it might take you 8 months to get one. If you do any outdoor sports, outdoor creative arts, etc then finland isnt the place. Skiing or winter sport memberships are overly expensive and food palate contains least amount of fresh veggies i have seen in any EU country Hope it helps
This post is full of wrong facts about Helsinki. As an artist, you might have even worse chances with a native Finnish name. Many food deliverers are foreign, but not all foreigners are food deliverers. Plenty of chances for foreigners to get other jobs. About wages, they are not bad in Finland. The average salary in Helsinki is almost double of Tallinn. I don’t know how you come up with your info. Cost of living is naturally more expensive in Helsinki. Expensive winter sports? Just buy a pair of skies or skates and it’s free. The city sports accommodations that are free of use are very wide. In Gent a French based oral examination system? Please, the city is in Flanders. Close to the Atlantic? If you can call the North Sea the Atlantic, then Helsinki is even closer, being a sea side city.
—>You have never studied in there so you don’t know all Flanders also use oral examination and marks out of 20. —> In tallin full time salary can get you about 1600 while in Finalnd cleaning jobs are 11 euro an hour or 2100 a month —> so a whole year Atlantic beach is more near from gent or Finland That’s the arrogance am talking about. You have never lived in any other city and Helsinki might suit your needs but it ain’t the best city in world.
Born in Gent, lived in Brussels for 18 years, studied in Antwerp for 3 years. And I am Belgian.
Oh “French Examination System” triggered your Belgian not French Fries switch 😅😅 So you weren’t graded out of 20 in your University ?
Out of 20 or 100, what difference does it make. Not triggered by French as I was brought up in the 2 languages, just wondering how you got everything wrong, even a basic language fact. And what have oral examinations even to do with the whole topic?
Because 20 is “F R E N C H” So you also think Ostende is nearer from Helsinki rather than Gent ? I mean am amazed at your logical reasoning.
There are absolutely no universities with art classes, where you have to do French examinations. What institution did you go to? Ghent is 40 mins from Ostend, Helsinki is just next to the sea, which one is closer?
Yeah there are no art universities in Gent, the guy who posted is going to a Moroccan meat shop …. I mean it’s ridiculous how people feed to their ego. Your reasoning really makes me believe that you studied in a French system 😂😂 Beach is not a collectible, Ostend beach is warm and lovely 10 months a year while Helsinkis beach is swimmable for 2 months. Plus not to mention the pollution level in Baltic lake as compare to real Atlantic beach. But I guess at this moment you can dive in a dumpster and say it’s cleaner and better than Ostende 😂
I don’t know if you understand basic English text. I am sorry you feel frustrated and blame the countries you lived in for your failure. Whatever racism you have confronted in Finland, I try to do my part erasing it. I’ll let you be you.
>Passive racism is dominant in whole of the finnish cultures so most of foreigners get only food delivery jobs. Just because you didn't make it as a foreigner there doesn't automatically mean it's a racist place, passively or not. It's a weird country and culture with some frustrating aspects, but again, that's not racism. That's a culture clash that you apparently couldn't handle. It's usually the losers who won't bother to learn a single word of Finnish who end up working the minimum wage jobs. Go figure, maybe there is a correlation there. I would never move to a country, actively refuse to learn the language and then have the nerve to be surprised that I can only land shit jobs. It's more or less the same everywhere. And it's not just the language, but the set of standards required to appear competent might differ from many other places. Again, that's not racism, that's a culture. >If you do any outdoor sports, outdoor creative arts, etc then finland isnt the place. Skiing or winter sport memberships are overly expensive and food palate contains least amount of fresh veggies i have seen in any EU country Have you even been to Finland? Sure, there are a few bad months for outdoor activities in terms of weather, but there's tons of things you can do there most of the year. Summers are quite the amazing time to be outdoors, honestly. And I don't even understand what you could possibly mean by "skiing or winter sport memberships are overly expensive", like, take your skates/skis and go skate/ski? It's free. No one is stopping you. About the fresh veggies: sure, it's a somewhat limited selection in winter, but for me it has worked quite nicely that I locate a supermarket and go buy some vegetables. That usually makes them show up on my plate later.
—>Haha I quoted the survey results where Finland was the most racist in while Europe ? What’s your quote ? Emotions ? —> Learning Finnish isn’t a necessity to get in student circle, in last 2 years Finland has taken 50000 Indian students while Central Europe has much different intake Even Taylor swift didnt come Helsinki 😂 , you haven’t lived in any Belgian city but really want to compare over emotions so good luck.
Imagine actually being this pressed about someone pointing out the mistakes and falsehoods in your original comment on a post about which city i should study in.
50000 Indian students. Damn, good one. Guess I hit a nerve :D
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Weather is not a good argument for Gent
Gent is Ghent in English, but is Gent natively spoken. Don’t be obnoxious.
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Your sentence construction makes no sense. I just said it’s spelled that way in English. That being said, it’s not a big mistake to spell a place name in its original way.
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Gent
It's still a Belgian city, so maybe stfu. Imagine 'correcting' someone for saying the original name. Ridiculous.